


Falling Into Nothing

by Archangelsings



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Kane Chronicles - Rick Riordan
Genre: ALOT of OOC, Alternate Universe - K virus, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe- Dystopia, Angst, Dark, Drama, End of the World, Everyone has like two names in this lol, Fucked Up God System, Like EVERYONE but it works for this, May be trigger to some, Mild OOC Crossover, Mulitple P.O.V, Multi, Olympus is fucking trippy, Others - Freeform, Pantheon - Freeform, Pantheonions, Romance, attempted suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-09
Updated: 2014-01-10
Packaged: 2018-01-08 02:50:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1127483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archangelsings/pseuds/Archangelsings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The year is unknown. You haven't known what it was for sometime now, all you do know is that the world has gone to shit and that there's something in you, gnawing at your insides, changing you, giving you strength you've never known, powers you've never dreamed of...</p><p>And it's slowly taking away everything you held dear.<br/>Your world.<br/>Your family.<br/>Your sister.<br/>And now your sanity.<br/>You're Falling Into Nothing</p><p>Or that AU where in a post apocalyptic world, ex-assassin and carrier of the enigmatic K-Virus, Nico Di Angelo of Reyna's Renegade Faction, is found at the base of the El Capitan Theatre by an annoyingly charming and mysterious brunette, one who after witnessing his attempted suicide refuses to leave him alone. Together the boys trek what remains of the world in search of answers, and searching for a way to stop the Pantheonions, a new breed of super-humans mutated by the effects of D-Day, from completing their ultimate goal, whatever it may be</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Nightlight Club Year 2200

**Author's Note:**

> Yo yo yo peeps, so those who read my Betrothed Story: FEAR NOT!!!! PT4 IS IN THE WORKS!! IM SORRY ITS TAKING SO LONG, ITS JUST.... MENTAL BLOCKS AND THEN INSPIRATION THEN MY BRO NEEDS THE COMP THEN MENTAL BLOCKS AND WHOOOO so in the meantime come read this. It's high time I cross posted it from FF.net, i feel like the audience is more receptive here soooo... yeah. Anyway this was my first Nicery, and I have 18 chapters already completed sooo depending on shiz you can expect a chapter or 2 a week. Also HUR DURRR BE HAPPY!! Y'ALL GET THE PROLOGUE!!! (I wrot ite after cahp 1 which USED to be the prologue and never added it to the FF.net ver) So be happy!!!
> 
> Anyway 
> 
> Warnings: Suggestive Themes, Violence, 2nd person Prologue

 

**Prologue**

**_Nightlight Club: Year 2200_ **

**_D-Day_**

The mood is dark and the music pounds through speakers, loud, obnoxious bass, high pitched computerized wails; the thrum of dubstep traveling from the floor to feet to legs, up calves, through arms, out fingertips; the addictive high of dance seeping into every person in the room. Lights flash. Hips sway and grind. Black. Red. Blue. White. Repeat. There was no discrimination on the floor. No time to worry about that. No time to think about the person who just grabbed your ass or ran a finger up your crotch. It was to be expected. It was part of the excitement. The experience. You just had to deal with it and keep moving.

 Lasers and fog, a shadowy exhibition, exhilaration in not knowing who was dancing next to you, who you pulled into the corner for a cheap thrill, a dirty night on the town. A typical Friday night spent clubbing. Seven to two. Non stop dance and sex and booze and drugs. It was the only thing your friends ever wanted to do anymore. You knew it wasn't healthy. You knew some one was going to be fucked in the morning, complaining about how wild it was, how they don't remember a thing. How you would all laugh and say night well spent, heads throbbing, eyes blood shot, one of you still passed out on the couch, one of you gone somewhere else entirely, the rest unsure of whether you were dead or alive. You wouldn't even know how you'd ended up back at the apartment if you were lucky.

Arms waved in the air, sweat poured off foreheads, a light sheen encompassing everyone, a very human musk filling the air. You threw your head back, bangs sticking to the space above your eyebrows, inhaling deeply, a crazed smile etched on your face, adrenaline running through your veins, euphoria in your mind, the draw of the mob in your soul. You couldn't stop. You knew that even if you said you would you couldn't. Wouldn't. The club was as much a part of you as you were part of it. It just wouldn't be Friday any other way. 

Strobe lights flickered over head, more bodies packed the floor, it was only ten, the night was just getting started. Pole dancers swayed and dropped, spun and ground against metal poles, fake bubble butts in the air, bare chests and lightly clothed breasts staring proudly out at the crowd. Impressive feats of flexibility, lap dancers in the corner, flirty bartenders at the bar, hoping to get some action before the night ends, maybe slipping a little something in your drink to get you nice and ready. A little tip to help sway your judgement. Loosen you up. Be less likely to say no.

You dance with abandon, throwing your arms around the first person who catches your eye, a slender red head, she's pretty in an average sort of way, nothing too over done, the only thing sticking out is, in fact, her hair, it's what drew you to her. You smile and you see her blush, you know your attractive, you pride yourself in it, and you use it to your advantage every time, wearing clothes that show off your greatest traits, like your abs, or the shape of your legs. 

You pull her closer, your hips moving together, she's tentative at first, you can tell she doesn't do things like this often if at all and you're determined to break her out of that shell. To properly set her free. You stand chest to chest, your hands run down her sides, she stops you from going any farther.

"Live a little why don't 'cha?" You whisper in her ear, biting down gently. You hear her sharp intake of breath and you move your hands lower. She doesn't stop you.

The music picks up and the two of you begin moving faster, bodies slowly gravitating towards the center of the floor, closing in on one another until you're as packed as sardines. Your bodies move fluidly over the another, hands gliding over exposed skin, breath ghosting over necks, sweat running down your sides. It's intense, it's dynamic, it's one of the most invigorating moments of your life. The two of you are virtually having sex with clothes on.

You feel a tap on your shoulder and you turn away from the flustered ginger in your arms, annoyed that someone would be interrupting you at a time like this. "What?" You snap.

"We got a call from headquarters, they say their might be an Other on the move."

"Fuck it, I'm off duty." You turn your attention back to the ginger who's watching this take place with a raised eyebrow.

"Keith, they say it's in the area, we're the only ones still sober enough to do anything about it."

"I said fuck it Brian, I don't give a damn, let the council deal with this, aren't they meeting with the Other's right now anyway?"

Brian sighed, tugging at his collar, he was the only one who refused to come out of uniform to this place, it was probably why he wasn't getting laid. "This one's rouge Keith, we don't know what it's going to do."

The ginger taps your shoulder. "Uhm, when you say other...you don't mean... _Other_ do you?"

"Yes!" "No!" You both exclaim at the same time.

The ginger's eyes widen and she backs away quickly, running out the back door.

"Fuck, now look what you did, she's gonna spread panic around the whole damn club. Tactful." You smack the top of the younger mans head.

"Sorry," He mumbled.

"No you're not now come on, I still wanna get laid tonight."

Brian nods and smartly says nothing else, following you as you make your way off the dance floor. The two of you walk over to the bar and Brian taps your other two friends shoulders, one is currently getting a lap dance the other making out fiercely with a male bartender up against a wall, they must have slipped something in his drink to get him to do that so freely. He was usually much more reserved, he probably had no idea what he was doing at the moment.

You make a face. "Just leave them, they won't be any help right now."

"O-okay," Brian walks away from them and you take out the gun you have strapped against your side.

Brian catches up to you and together you head for the front, pushing and shoving anyone too inconsiderate to move out the way. You're about a yard away from the front of the door when you see her, the flame eyed Other. The rouge. 

"Freeze!" You yell, gun raised and aimed at the woman. She smirks and says something in her native tongue, a strange mix of German, Latin, French, Japanese, English and Gaelic. You don't have your translator implant on and don't understand what she said.

You turn to Brian. "What's she saying."

Brian pales, and raises his gun. "That the time for humans is over, that it's time to raze the great homo-sapiens empire to the ground."

You face the lady, people have now started to catch on to the threat and are running the other direction, you can hear the panic and desperation behind you. There goes a perfectly good Friday.

"What are you getting at? Are you a terrorist? Step down now!"

The lady spoke again and Brian translated. "She says that this isn't a threat, this is just fate, the meeting held by the Council is just a rouse to get attention away from the main event. That this has to happen for the next stage in human evolution."

You hold your breath and growl out, "What's the main event."

The lady seems to anticipate your question and reaches into her pocket pulling out a small circular device. You gasp. You know what that is. You were one of the ones that helped develop it, and the one to pull the plug on the project after it destroyed a star.

"Don't let her press that button!" You yell at Brian, "That's a Gravity Destroyer!"

Brian's eyes widen. "You mean-"

"Yes, idiot, it's the same thing, I don't know how they got their hands on it but-"

Brian fired his gun at the lady, hitting the device out of her hand. The fire eyed Other hissed and thrust her hand forward, an invisible force flinging Brian across the room. People screamed, Brian didn't get up again. You gulp, glancing behind you for a moment before lunging towards the woman. She snarls, low and animalistic, and kicks you in the stomach. 

Pain explodes in your abdominal area, and blood flies out your mouth. You're pretty sure you felt ribs break and puncture your lungs. This girl had strength to spare. 

Dazed you struggle to your feet, black spots dancing in your vision, an arm slung over your stomach gingerly. Where was the damn remote? You couldn't let that be used, it would destroy the planet. Why did the past always come back to haunt you? 

The woman is smirking at you, the remote in her hand, you raise your gun and fire. The shot sails through the air, smacking her forehead and...nothing. She remains standing, the bullet not even leaving a mark on her skin. Great. You throw down your gun, it's useless. She begins to step forward, and your brain scrambles to come up with a way to stop the impending danger. There had to be a kill switch on there...if only you could remember the self destruct sequence.

You reach back into the banks of your mind, the memory slowly coming back to the forefront of it. 

"Project:  _K-G Des Proto Ver. 01_." You begin, in a whisper, your mind syncs up with the world wide web, a file popping up in front of your web eye. "User: _Keith Heyward_  Password:  _SO009MEOPTFID089_."

The file opens and you flip to remote destruction. You click okay. An authorization icon pops up. You hiss in annoyance and quickly switch to your visual eyes only to see she's only a few steps away, you quickly input the long code. "Authorization Key: _KEHESO009MEOPTFID089SEDESEOK-GDESPROTOVERO1AU_."

You blink and sever the connection, your web eye turning off just in time to see the remote in the Other's hand fizz and die out. You grin in triumph the world was saved, there was nothing left to fear, you feel your knees give out beneath you and fall to the floor, blood pooling out your mouth. The Other made a sound of disgust and threw the remote on the ground. Why didn't she look angry? Why wasn't she destroying him? 

The lady knelt down next to you. "Keith Heyward." She said, her voice accented heavily, she took a vial from her other pocket. "You are the beginning."

Your eyes widen and you try to jerk away from her touch as she grabs your arm, but her grip is like iron, you have no chance of escaping her grasp. 

"No," You croak out, you can feel tears coming to your eyes, "No!" You struggle again, you don't know what's in that vial, but you sure as hell know it isn't any orthodox vaccine, you don't want their cursed remedy.

"Feel honored Keith Heyward in knowing you are the first." She placed the needle in your flesh and pushed the contents inside. "And knowing that you could change nothing."

Fire-Eyes stood, discarding the used canister on the floor. You're body begins to shake and you feel sweat pooling from your body, a burning warmth scorching through your veins. You gag, your body bending at inhuman angles, eyes trained on the Other in front of you, full of hate and malice as you convulse. 

Strange thoughts enter your head.  _Death to humans. Raze to the ground. Kill all. Inferior. Raze. Raze. Raze. Raze. RAZE!_  You shake your head, yours eyes start to bleed red, the irises changing color.

The Other smiles at you as the ground begins to shake. What.  _Raze._  Is.  _Inferior._  Going.  _Death._  On? 

"You see? There was more than one remote. You stopped nothing." She bends over to whisper in your ear. "Your world is ending."

It's that phrase that finally snaps your control. You lose sight of your humanity, the thoughts of killing and destroying reaching a fevered pitch, taking control of your mind and soul. The Other smiles in glee as she see's the Virus take effect in its host. 

The Earth shakes.

Buildings crumble.

Hover-cars fall to the ground.

Buildings lift to the sky.

The Other walks out the door.

The Pantheon is born.

 


	2. Chapter 1: Falling Into Nothing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet Nico di Angelo, seventeen, a boy of Italian origin, orphan, ex-assassin, living in a hellish dystopian world.
> 
> And now he wants to kill himself...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Attempted Suicide, May be trigger to some

**Chapter One: Falling Into Nothing**

_**Nico** _

I remember the day the world ended like it was yesterday. The loud shrieking in my head, a horrible incessant agony -- a stabbing unstoppable pain like a thousand shards of glass slashing at my flesh. I remember watching the sky break into a thousand pieces -- the residual fear I felt when I saw that...oh god _, dio misericordioso_ , it was awful. How I had wanted to cry, to hang onto my family, to be able to hide in my father's arms for one last time. But I couldn't, I was a di Angelo, Nico di Angelo, son of Hades di Angelo, and di Angelo's never showed weakness, never showed how much they were hurting, never showed their fear, not even to the ones they loved the most, especially not them. I remembered the gut wrenching nausea that hit me as gravity suddenly reversed itself. The ground cracking like the sky, chunks lifting to meet it. I didn't know where it was I was supposed to be looking. Up or down. Left or right. Direction was meaningless in that moment. Direction didn't exist.

I would later learn that the Earth's electromagnetic field was broken that day.

That the Aurora shined brighter than ever before.

One more time.

One last glorious time, it shined on the Earth, all of it, from pole to pole for all to see, shrouded in a beautiful rainbow. But no one could appreciate it. No one stopped to stare in awe. No, humans had better things to worry about. They had to survive. They had to figure out what the heck had happened. They had to run from all the new horrors unleashed on them...on  _us_. The Golems: artificial lifeforms with intelligences of varying levels; who served those infected by the K-Virus -- the Pantheonions -- those infected, and the Animate: organic life with no soul, no will of there own, the closest thing to dead you can get without actually being there. Not to mention the other Renegades, the ones against your faction, each side right in its own way, each side trying to survive, trying to find food, water, shelter, a piece of the earth stable enough to withstand life for at least a day.

Every moment was harder than the last. Everyday we grew closer and closer to extinction. Every single godforsaken day I wished for a way out. I think that's how I ended up on the roof of the old El Capitan theatre. I think that's why, but really I just didn't know anymore. I stood, looking out on what used to be Hollywood, but was now just a street. A name. A long forgotten sign. What did I think I would accomplish from this? Did I think that the borderline toxic outside air would clear my head? Sure. That was definitely the reason why I was standing at the edge of a roof wondering if the fall would kill me. I sighed, my eyes taking in the destruction around me, overturned cars, shattered asphalt, jagged spikes of earth jutting from sides of buildings, tall skyscrapers reduced to nothing, all of man's greatest accomplishments gone in flash. Reduced to rubble. To nothing. Made you realize just how un-important we all were. I would have laughed if I could remember how. Or maybe what I really wanted was to cry.

I remembered a poem that fit this scene,  _Ozymandias,_ I think. Written by Mary Shelley's husband Percy. But anyway one line stood out in my mind at that moment. One quote on a pedastal of a broken statue in the middle of the desert a quote that spoke of the intense irony of existance.

" _My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:_

_Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"_

But there was nothing there. Nothing left. Wasn't that how the next line went? Wasn't it...

_Nothing beside remains._

I can't really say it's surprising that the husband of the lady who wrote  _Frankstein_  wrote a poem about the insignificance of existance, I probably would have ended up doing something similiar if I had been in his position, hell I still might. We probably could've been friends, Percy and I.

But that didnt matter now did it.

I closed my eyes and for a moment I could see the city for what it had been, a bustling center of the entertainment industry, sunny, warm, inviting, always full of people, always having some party or club you could go to. For a moment I remembered. For a moment I wasn't in the world that seemed to be forever overcast, to be shrouded in a thin layer of gray, as if everything was slowly being leeched of its color and we were just the last annoying specks that resisted our destinies. I opened my eyes again, people used to say I looked like my mom, I had her face, a soft non angular thing, femimine in nature, lacking the masculine jaw my father had, giving me a seemingly innocent appearance; we shared the same smile when I would really smile, the same eye shape, the same lips, but my nose...that I got from my dad, and my pale skin, and my ears, and my wavy black hair, and my coal black eyes, the slim but deadly build that held our hidden strength. I was my parents child, anyone who saw us together would be able to tell. I sighed. Thoughts like that always brought my mind back to the reason I was standing here.

I was wondering if the fall would kill me.

Probably not.

Not much could kill me anymore.

See...I had the K-Virus.

And that, amongst other things, made me virtually immortal.

A single tear fell down my face and I breathed in the sulfur -- nitrogen -- carbon dioxide -- whatever the hell else was in it infested air. Ha. Looked like I still remembered how to cry. Not much good it would do me now, all I had left was myself. All my family was gone, the few people I could consider friends dead, all that was left was a base need to survive and even that was dwindling away to nothing. Fizzing slowly out like a candle's flame drowning in its wax, waiting for either the wick -- or the now liquid substance -- to snuff it out. That was me, the candle flame. I had no reason left to live, no reason left to try.

I dropped my mask.

I closed my eyes.

I breathed and I felt the burn it caused, a sweet, sweet thing that told me I was alive.

The fall wouldn't kill me.

The air couldn't suffocate me.

A knife wouldn't cut me.

I was a candles flame. I didn't deserve to shine brightly.I didn't deserve to live when I had nothing to share it with. I felt the wick burn out, I felt the wax overtake me.

" _My name is Nico Di Angelo, king of kings:_

_Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"_

I jumped.

_Nothing beside remained._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo hope you enjoy! If i get good feedback I'll post the net chapter later today so you can get a feel of Percy in this story. But uhm yeah. Comment. Kudo's, subscribe, bookmark, all that jazz is appreciated!


	3. Chapter 2: Falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet Perseus Jackson, horrid potty mouth, afraid of heights and oh what's this? He see's a boy fall out of the sky. 
> 
> Wait... what?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Excessive Language. Mild suggestive themes. Mildly disturbing images. Attempted Suicide (may be trigger to some), oh yeah prepare for some REALLY OOC (maybe... I think he kinda seems OOC) Percy ^^;

**Chapter Two: Falling**

_**Percy** _

"Yo Jackson! Get your ass over here! You gotta see this!"

"What, what?" I yelled back, just a little annoyed. Grover knew I hated small, enclosed, tight,  _just-waiting-to-squish-you_  spaces, I mean heck isn't it obvious, they're freaking death traps waiting to happen! Okay so granted I wasn't  _always_  this claustrophobic, not that  _I_  am, I mean it's more of an intense dislike that ends with me curled up in a ball on the floor but like dude, that's just a  _small_ minute  _detail._ It doesn't matter  _that_  much, right? It's just a measly little fact bout 'lil ol' me, so it doesnt matter. Right?  _Right?_

Anyway, if it wasn't for that one incident with a Concrete Golem, later dubbed the Great Santa Monica Debacle of Third Street Promenade, I would  _totally_  be okay with following Grover up the steep rise of  _really_  unstable looking rubble into the dark shadowy corner where he was calling me from...

Okay...on second thought maybe I wouldn't be. I just realized how  _incredibly_  shady that entire sentence sounded. Like  _"OMG, THEY'RE TOTALLY ABOUT TO DO IT IN THE CORNER!"_ shady. I mean he wants to show me something, and it's in a shadowy area...yah no, I'm gonna stop that train of thought  _now_ , it's  _beyond_  wrong, the dudes like a brother to me! Not that I would be opposed to doing it with another dude, or would like judge you for doing that either, like whatever floats your boat, ya know? But like he's  _Grover_ , I've known him since I was like  _five_ , and we even survived the  _apocalypse_  together! Like hell I'm gonna tap that! It would be beyond awkward.

So yah the great Debacle, I won't bore you with the details just know that it involved books, something I barely tolerate on a good day, an elevator, which I might mention is like the epitome of small and tight...or maybe that would be an ass...OKAY! TURNING OFF MY BRAIN NOW! This is what I get for going down that entire implied butt sex with Grover tirade, now my head is stuck in the gutter. I apologize in advance if anything else dirty slips...ha...ha...out. I'll try and keep the vulgarity (is that a word?) to a minimum.

Okay so yah! Elevator, books, Golem, knives (I never looked at chopped liver again after that, almost went vegan to repent...course that failed miserably, IMA MAN! I GOTTA HAVE MAH MEAT!), and  _thank god_ , one handy pyro-maniac with a flame-thrower...yah it wasn't pretty for the Golem...or really for  _anyone_ , but hey I got out alive, and I had new found respect (and  _I_  think healthy fear) of fire.

I started climbing the debris, picking my way up in a way that I hoped was at least  _slightly_  as coordinated as Grover's (the kid might as well have been a mountain goat with how fast he scaled these things) testing each step, avoiding holes, and old steel beams, slipping and sliding my way up to the top. God it was hell. I chanced a glance behind me. Ooooh shit, that was high. Did I mention I hated heights too? Like that had  _always_ been an issue with me, I just felt more comfortable on the ground or in the water, actually mainly the water now that I think of it, that's probably why I took up surfing... _and_ swimming,  _and_  water polo,  _and_  just about any other aquatic sport you could think of; I'd do just about anything for an excuse to be able to be in the water. Like it was bad. Real bad, so bad that I got the nickname Merman from being pretty much a fish for two thirds of the day. My mom, bless her soul, she...she had been okay with it cause it gave me a reason to do well in school. I couldn't be on any of the teams unless I had a 2.0 grade point average, so I always found time to study. I liked to have a little wiggle room so I always strived for at least 2.5, heck before the world ended I had finally gotten it up to a 3.0 thanks to my old girlfriend Annabeth.

Now that girl...she was a genius. I wonder what ever happened to her, I don't think she's dead, she was much to smart for that. I mean if even  _I_ somehow managed to survive she most definitely did. There was no way she couldn't have. But that didn't matter now. School doesn't do much good when you're just trying to survive and worrying over old friends was counter productive. I still had Grover and that was just going to have to be enough, if fate allows we'll meet each other again.

I was starting to get the feeling that Grover just wanted to kill me today, the whole asking me to overcome two of my biggest fears in one day was a bit much... Whatever was up there better be good, like  _godly_ good.

"Whoa," I breathed when I reached the top, we were in a fallen skyscraper and even with it's now almost horizontal state we were still a good two hundred feet in the air, like holy hell, hyperventilation status much? But even still you couldn't not love the view, it was spectacular even with the old city scape utterly destroyed. Though...if I were being totally honest, I'd tell you that I actually thought it was better. More peaceful, you know?

Finally after a few moments of staring I looked down and saw what Grover had called me up for, feeling a grin slowly etch its way across my face, my fears temporarily forgotten. "Dude this is the jackpot."

"I know right, Chiron is gonna wanna hear 'bout this," Grover said slinging an arm over my shoulder, his amber eyes shining in anticipation.

"You sure it's Celestial Bronze?" I asked.

"Hell yeah man, I already scanned it before I called you up here, I know how much you hate heights dude." Grover tapped the scanner on his wrist, a 3D image popping up as he did so. I quickly read the stats and nodded, everything about the rock's composition matched, the ratio of diamond, titanium, radiation levels, carbon, gold and plain old rock were all standard. I may not have looked it, most people thought I was just some kinda dim surfer dude, it really annoyed me when people assumed that, but when it came to geology and marine bio, I always excelled. Like a lot. Like to the point where  _I_  was able to tutor  _Annabeth_  instead of the other way around. It was one of the few times I actually felt smart. So anyway, when it came to Celestial Bronze patrols I was your guy.

"Sweet," I adjusted the air purifier and goggles on my face, then checked to see how much more power they had. Crap. A little over an hour. "Okay, call Leo and Jason over, tell them we found the motherload, we're gonna need the extra muscle if we wanna transport any of this before we're breathing acid."

"Got it man, you get down there and start gettin' those rocks gathered 'kay?"

I nodded and grinned at my fellow partner in crime before raising my hand and giving him our secret handshake. It was nice that Grover and I survived together, I don't know what I would have done if not for the awkwardly built, chill, red-brown haired brunette in front of me. Probably something stupid and regrettable.

We smiled and Grover turned to send a message to the other two in our patrol. "Hey Firebug and Lightninglad, we found the jackpot..." I tuned the rest out and stared at the gorge before me. Well shit, that was high. Now I'm just hypothesizing here but most likely, due to the way tectonic plates had moved, it made a deeper depression in the earth on this side than the other. It's probably why there was so much Celestial Bronze right here instead of anywhere else.

I sighed and gulped, this side was steep as well, steeper than the one I had just climbed but virtually smooth, so getting down would be easy, just slide; the black full body leotard looking things we wore only _looked_ like they would be ripped going down, but it was in fact created to be flexible  _and_  strong enough to withstand any cutting from just about anything but Celestial Bronze or diamond. The only thing you had to worry about was the impact, it may protect you from cuts but it still hurt like a bitch to be shot at point blank range in the chest. Trust me  _not_  a fun experience.

Grumbling to myself I settled on my butt and pushed off, sliding down the decline a lot faster than I would have expected. Hey, never said I was good at geometry, that sine cosine shit went right over my head, that would have been Annabeth's field.

Landing in a heap on the bottom of the depression I chanced a glance upwards, fixing my eyes on the top. Shit. It was definitely too steep to get back up without rock climbing tools.

"Yo! Grover! Dude! Don't come down here! You can't get back up!" I shouted up at him, my voice echoing painfully off of the rock around me. Grover turned and I think he nodded but it was hard to tell and I didn't want to waste any of my battery life using the binocular feature on my goggles just to make sure he understood. I just had to hope he did. Turning I grabbed a few of the precious stones I had slid down here for and began to look for a way out. From where I stood it looked like I was going to have to try going around, but the question was: Should I go left or right? Left would have been the most obvious choice since that would get me back to camp faster, but that would be a waste of time. Probably. Grover and I had scoured that side already and if there had been an opening we would have seen it and  _totally_  avoided going through that whole rock climbing adventure.

Great, that left right, the un-mapped territory.

"I'm gonna go try and find a way out!" I yelled up at Grover, "You head back to camp and gather a rescue party in case I can't get out!" Grover peered over the edge at me and I saw his head bob up and down slightly in response before he turned and dashed down the other side of the mountain of debris.

Okay. Let's get moving.

I quickly shrugged off my pack and placed as many of the shining bronze rocks I could inside of it, taking out my gun and strapping it to my belt instead. Now I wished I had brought some supplies with me. Never again shall I leave without the most basic essentials, you know, food, rope, extra batteries, first aid kits etc. I wouldn't have been so worried about the situation I was in otherwise. But oh well, what's done is done, I just had to hope I could find my way out within the hour. If not...well...things would start to get  _really_ interesting. Fatally so. I tried to suppress the shiver that ran down my spine as I thought of the state those who didn't have a mask on for more than five minutes ended up in.

Let's just say it's not pretty, and agree to never bring the topic up again.

Replacing my bag on my back I began heading down the path I had chosen, hopefully there would be a less steep incline that I could climb out of without having to travel too far down. I was already going to have to double back as it was. I checked my battery life, fifty-five minutes, that...that was really worrisome. The batteries were solar powered, which you might think  _"Great! You can charge your battery anywhere at any time!"_ but no. That's not how it worked. See the battery could be recharged, and relatively quickly too, but the problem was, you couldn't be using it and charge at the same time. Call it a design flaw, or a prototype, but until Chiron comes out with an updated version of the system, we were stuck having to return to base every three hours or lugging around extra batteries. So you can't be too surprised that I was just a  _tiny_  bit anxious. If you do the math fifty five minutes to backtrack over two hours of walking didn't really sound like good odds and I'd really prefer  _not_  having liquefied lungs.

I sped up my pace to a steady jog, glancing to my left every few seconds, but found no immediate exit. After five minutes of even pacing, I was A) Beginning to get whiplash from turning my neck so often and B) Really starting to worry, I was down to fifty minutes of battery life, if I spent too much more time looking for an exit I might as well give up, I'd never make it back to camp in time. My heart lodged itself in my throat, thoughts wandering to the exposed. Of there decrepit forms. Mushy insides, decayed and wrinkled skin, brittle to the touch like fragile sand paper, eyes sunken in and shriveled up like raisins. Oh god. Please don't let that happen to me. It totally wasn't helping that almost every corner had at least one such body on it. I shivered, some of them looked fairly new from the looks of it.

You couldn't really be surprised by that fact, especially not now. I mean, what did you expect? It's not like there where anymore sanitation workers, or coroners, or anything else like that. The world had ended for everyone at the same time, at the same moment, so it's not like we really had the time _or_ the man power for mass bonfires to get rid of the bodies, and there isn't enough supplies to do so now, so...they just stayed there. Rotting away. Waiting to become nothing, or to come back as an Animate.

I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone.

I sighed, what I wouldn't give to be playing so Call of Duty Zombies right now, or maybe Halo 4...though heck, what did I need a console for, my life was C.O.D now. Just without the comfort of knowing that if I lose you still can try again. God, I wish this was all just a dream, a horrible, awful, traumatizing nightmare, one that would leave me talking to Annabeth and wondering what the hell was wrong with me, but I knew that wasn't the case. Some of the things I'd seen...the things I had done...there was just no way for me to imagine them. I wasn't  _that_  sick to come up with that.

I kept going, and as I did so things became less and less familiar. See I had never lived in L.A., I grew up in New York, Queens to be exact, and had only been to this city a few times in my life, once for swim team championships, and twice to visit my biological dad, Poseidon Jackson, at his summer villa in Malibu. During all three occasions I had never ventured farther than Culver City, Santa Monica and West Hollywood, so this side of town was totally unknown to me. None of the street names were ringing any bells for me and honestly, that was probably a bad sign considering that meant I didn't know how to connect from point A to point B. My ADHD made it really hard to focus on any one thing for too long and trying to remember street names just wasn't gonna get any head time today...god sorry that sounded wrong. Just great, another set of hell to worry about.

I rounded another corner and stopped, jumping into the shadows as quickly and quietly as I could, silently cursing my luck. Of course I'd get stuck with the most problems during dire circumstances. Like hello, I was Perseus fucking Jackson, of course they'd wanna get some from a bad ass like me... Okay so lies, I really wasn't that important but just for the sake of my sanity I'll say that's the case. That and pretending I was the protagonist in a video game just made everything easier. If I believed it wasn't real then I could do what I needed to in order to survive.

Kill if I had to.

In front of me was a wall of Animate. Gross, diseased, rotten from the inside out. Corpses that should have just been left in peace but have now been called for some dark purpose. The Animate shuffled along, groaning in agony as their old bones were forced to work again. Shriveled eyes lolled from sockets, arms dropped off their owners, legs blew away to dust. Oh god and the  _smell_. I resisted the urge to barf. The scene was sick. Twisted. Demonic. I fought down my temper.  _Just a game, just a game, just a game_. I told myself. _It's a recon mission and with only forty minutes left of air you watch to see what the Animate are doing. Those are your new orders. Orders you will follow to the end._

I crouched down and pressed myself to the wall, blending in with the darkness around me thanks to my outfit and stared at the scene. The Animated were moving forward, towards some exit in the side of the wall that was moving in the opposite direction of me. I smirked. Bingo! My ticket out! Or...shit no. There was like fifty of them and uhm lets see, one of me with only ten bullets with me, there was no way I could get them all unless I was some gun god, which unfortunately I was not. FUCK! I just noticed something else, something that made me stand up and risk sending Grover a message.

The Animate, were headed in the direction I was heading. That meant camp, that meant trouble, that meant moving out ASAP. We didn't have resources to spare trying to get rid of these nuisances. We had to keep our bullets for recon and boundary skirmishes with other Renegade groups in the area.

Silently I tapped the com-link on my wrist and called Grover. Slowly a video image of him fizzled into view in my goggle lens and I knew it connected. I was almost worried I was too far from camp to get a signal.

"Yo dude, what's up, how much air you got left?" Grover asked a tad frantically. I guess he figured I'd only message him if I was on my last legs...which I kinda was, but not as bad as he probably was thinking I was. Wow. That probably made little to no sense but I think it did so I'm going to leave it.

"Thirty nine minutes, and dude look," I whispered, turning on my frontal video feed, "A whole freaking army of Animate headed in the direction of camp. You gotta go tell Chiron."

"Whoa man, you sure that's headed our way?" A new voice asked. Tall blonde and annoying? Jason.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes I'm sure." I growled out. "I'm not an idiot I can read a map."

"Okay, okay man, just saying, no need to get worked up if you weren't." He put up his hands in a placating gesture and I just made a face. Jason was one of those blonde guys who fit the one hundred percent surfer dude stereotype that people would try to lump me in with; like he was the kid who would say things like _"gnarly"_ and  _"hang ten" and_ had a bit of a leader complex. He refused to take advice or orders from others and always wanted to be in charge, it's why he hated going on patrols with me cause, let's face it, I was more qualified to make decisions than he was in this instance...or really any instance really.

"Anyway I'm gonna head a little farther down, see if I can find a way around them where I can cut 'em off, but yeah hurry your asses up and get to camp."

"Aye, aye Captain," The three other boys grumbled.

I grinned. "Good." Then shut off the link, didn't need to lose any more battery life on that.

Taking a breath, I readjusted my pack on my shoulders and kept moving, flitting in the shadows, giving the Animate a large berth God, how I wish I had just tried to plow on through the corpses, I had, had a knife with me at the time; when I ran out of bullets I could've switched to that. But that's not what I did. I went around them, taking the tactical retreat. And closer to the meeting that would change my life forever.

I say I wish I could change that moment.

It's a lie.

I wouldn't choose anything different if it meant even a minute with Nico, but that's neither here nor there. Like I say, what's done is done, the past is set in stone, all that's left to change is the future. And that's where I'll put my efforts.

Finally I put enough distance between me and the Animate but that didn't matter now. I only had thirty minutes of air left. That damn call had drained more battery life then I expected. There was no way I was going to make it back to camp in time. I choked back a sob and blinked tears out my eyes. I'm not usually the emotional type, but hey, thinking that I was on my death bed warranted just a few stronger emotions than I would usually feel.

Well if I was going to die, I wanted to die with a smile on my face. I would find some secluded place where I could rot in peace and maybe Grover would find me and give me a proper funeral. I mean...a...a guy could hope right?

I glanced up at the sign next to me, Hollywood Blvd, that name sounded familiar. I walked to the sidewalk and felt myself grin. Ah, of course, this was the street with all the stars on it. I looked to my left, that meant that those abandoned buildings over there where the Chinese Mann and Kodak Theatres, and the building in disrepair next to me was the El Capitan. I stepped back a few steps to the middle of the sidewalk and looked up. I had always wanted to come down this way with my dad, you know cause it's a tourist spot, and to well, bond with my old man, but he never would. He thought it was a waste of time, that seeing some buildings, or some movie at one of these specific theatres was stupid, he'd just take me to one closer, like the Archlight. I scoffed, that really wasn't all that closer than here.

The memory filled me with a sense of melancholy my smile taking on a slightly sadder quality, but I quickly pushed it aside. The memory was good but it wasn't good enough. I was going to die one hundred percent happy. I'd die with thoughts of Annabeth, and surfing, and video games, and Grover, and my mom and step dad on my mind. All the happy times, all the moments before...this.

I stared up at the building in front of me. Half the front face was gone, sunken in and lopsided, strewn about as rubble on the ground, if power still went through the city, I could imagine the lights flickering eerily in the overcast light. Sad looking tinsels fluttered in the air uselessly, once a bright vibrant green, now a muted dirty color, a color perverted by the air and earth around it. I sighed, and smiled to myself, even in its sad broken state the building was still beautiful. Of course that might have just been because I had never  _really_  seen it in front of me before, but I'm pretty sure I had a good idea from the pictures I'd seen.

An old newspaper rustled by, taken hold by the wind, and it swayed in the air, trying to break free of its bindings, trying to leave this place behind. Well good for you little paper, at least someone can go somewhere. Smiling sadly I spun where I was, and felt a laugh bubble within me. Twenty more minutes, twenty more minutes of sad, sad, joy. Twenty minutes left of life, and then five minutes of liquefying hell. Maybe I should just shoot myself before then. Maybe that would be better than the torture about to befall me. I gripped the gun strapped at my waist subconsciously I'd deal with that when I'd get there.

Suddenly, I heard something thump to the ground in front of me and I stopped my spinning. What the hell? I crept closer to the sound and looked down. A mask. A purifying mask, different model, less advanced then my own, but definitely one of the breathing apparatus's that all the Renegade's had in common. I picked it up. This one was from Reyna's gang of misfits, but what would one of them be doing way out here? Was she looking for a fight? If so, why would the kid drop his mask, they needed that to survive.

Quickly I backed away from the building, mask still in hand, and looked up. On the roof of the building, a good one hundred feet in the air stood a figure, a boy I think, standing precariously on the edge. What was he doing up there? Suicide?

"Hey!" I shouted up at the kid. "Hey! Get down from there! I've got your mask!"

The kid didn't hear me or just didn't care, but I got no response.

"Shit," I mumbled to myself and turning on the binocular feature on my goggles. Almost immediately my vision was engulfed by the view of a short black haired teen, wearing nothing but a black jacket, a middle gray shirt with a black skull on it, and loose black pants. Strapped to his side was a medium sized blade, in a black sheath that made the boys already pale appearance seem even paler. Almost sickly.

The boy's eyes were trained ahead, but even from my angle I could see the wisdom in them. The hurt. The pain. The look of a man vulnerable in there last moments, when they don't think no one's looking. I gulped, I had a horrible feeling I knew what was going to happen next.

"Kid!" I shouted again. "Don't jump!"

He jumped.

The boy sailed through the air, for a moment looking like he was flying, suspended in animation, but then gravity took over and he quickly plummeted down. I stood shocked and transfixed in horror as he fell. He landed with a bone crunching thump. Oh my god. I just saw someone kill themselves. And I'd done nothing.

 _Splat!_ The sound of flesh against solid rock jarred me from my stupor and I ran over to where the kid lay.

"Hey kid, wake up, are you okay?" I whispered turning him over on his back. The boy looked even younger and peaceful laying like this, skin unblemished...without a trace of blood or bruise...skin still faintly warm to the-wait what? I made a face and looked closely. Yeah. Nothing was wrong. The kid looked just the same as he had when he fell down, which...was impossible. A fall like that should have killed him. Broken his bones. Mangled his brains. Crushed his lungs. But he looked A-Okay.

I gulped and rested to fingers on his neck, searching for a pulse.  _B-Bmp! B-Bmp! B-Bmp!_ He was alive! He wasn't dead...he was...staring up at me.

"Hey dude," I said. "Sup?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boom shakalaka! Hope you liked Percy lol


	4. Chapter 3: Bleeding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico meets Percy, and Percy's battery dies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: None
> 
> **Note about Italian*** So I just used Google translate for it soooo if anyone SPEAKS Italian and knows a more proper way of saying these things. LET ME KNOW PLZ!! Comments are appreciated :o

**Chapter Three: Bleeding**

_**Nico** _

I felt the air rush around me; crisp, cold; unforgiving, buffering me, strong fingers that held me in its vice grip, suspending me in the sky, and for a moment I could forget everything, I could believe that I was flying, that I was sleeping, that none of my problems were actually that bad, or even existed, nothing remained in the dark. But then the dream ended and gravity took over, its strong fist knocking me downward, pulling me by my invisible chain; like a magnet I was attracted to the earth. It was a fitting marriage, the ground and I, we were both hard and cold, one and the same.

My stomach jumped to my throat, the feeling of gravity taking hold of my senses, the feeling of free fall permeating my cells. Faster and faster I plummeted, eyes squeezed shut, refusing to see what lay before me. I didn't need them to tell me what was coming, I already knew from my time on the roof. I had known what would happen the moment I jumped. I knew that the fall  _should_  kill me. I knew that the fall  _wouldn't_  kill me and I also knew I only had about two more seconds before my body would make that bone shattering kiss that for anyone else would end in death.

I felt my hair whip across my face. I felt the sting of wind against my pale cheeks, the burn of the acidic air in my lungs, its caress on my exposed neck and hands, the comforting weight of my blade by my side. It was the longest two seconds of my life, a sickening anticipation that was slowly overtaken by an uncharacteristic bout of peace. I could almost smile, was this the calm before the storm? The feeling of relief and acceptance that overcame those about to die? When they knew there was nothing they could do to stop their fate. That it was inevitable.

If so I envied those people to no end.

Time was up. The seconds couldn't last forever. My body hit the ground. I felt the impact like a thousand trucks rammed into me. I felt the bone cracking force. The power to crush bodies into flat sheets of muscle and goo. I felt the air rush from my lips, the sharp needle pain that caught my breath. I wanted to scream. My vision turned red with agony, I could feel my organs moving to places they shouldn't be, stinging fissures where bone screamed to be reduced to dust but didn't. The psychosomatic snaps resonated through me, my mind expecting to be broken, not used to the fact that it could not break. Not by any such orthodox means. Not anymore.

Dazed, I waited for the pain to subside, my eyes squeezed shut, my breathing barely there, shallow, turned weak from the pain radiating through my chest. It hurt too much to try and do anything more. But it was a sweet pain. A deserved pain. A pain that would slowly let me atone for my sins. If they would allow me.  _Oh Bianca, mia sorella. Padre, mi dispiace non ho potuto proteggerla. Bianca, mi dispiace._ I cried out for forgiveness. I begged for repentance. I wished for my family to understand. I couldn't do anything to save her. I watched her lose her sanity, so slowly, so painstakingly slowly; it was awful to watch, but don't they see, I was afflicted after her, I got the virus too, now all I had was the pain, I'd do whatever I could to be close to them again.

If I could give myself the illusion of death, to drop myself at their doorstep, maybe they'd be able to call to me. Maybe they could give me some sort of sign. Maybe then they would forgive me.

Slowly my senses came back in full swing, the pain fading away to nothing but a dull ache, the rest of the synapses in my brain finally reconnecting, my other feelings having been dulled by the overwhelming pain. The fiery agony was replaced by the almost expected ache of toxic air in my lungs. Frigid air cooled my fevered flesh, the soft whisper of wind a welcome comfort, the awkward jab at my side from the uneven ground filling me with annoyance. Of course it was nothing bothersome enough to make me actually  _move_. I really had no desire to leave this spot. Maybe I could starve to death. Die of dehydration.  _Something_  had to work. Even with the Celestial Bronze running through my veins it only dulled the effects of the virus, not get rid of it. It was a cross I had to bear, a burden I could not be rid of, a curse. One that was deserving.

Footsteps. That was the first foreign sound I heard, frantic footsteps, then an anxious voice. "Hey kid, wake up, you okay?" Low and masculine; a baritone, I shivered ever so slightly, it had been so long since I had a human companion.  _Just go away_ I willed...though whether that was directed towards the boy I wasn't sure.

Someone, probably the man whose voice it belonged to, flipped me over, and I heard him gasp inwardly to himself, probably not even aware of the sound coming out of his mouth. I almost smirked, it probably wasn't every day that you'd find a boy dropping from a four story building and come away from it completely unharmed, but unfortunately that was my life, a fact I had to live with for better or for worse.

Fingers pressed against my neck, my steady pulse rocking underneath them and I fought the urge to frown. This guy didn't know when to leave well enough alone. He couldn't possibly be one of Reyna's men, I didn't recognize the voice, and I had taken it upon myself to memorize every single one of them, all the way down to the smallest inflection. So why the heck would he be trying to help me?  _Maybe he's not_ , I realized, my morbid brain doing what it does so well,  _Maybe he's checking if you're alive just to kill you himself. You know you'd do the same._

My eyes opened and for a moment everything was too bright, an ironic fact considering the overcast sky, and I blinked back a sudden well of tears. The boy was still focused on the pulse in my neck and hadn't noticed that I was conscious yet. For an instant I stared at him, taking in what I could of his appearance, which, granted. wasn't much, just that he wore the all black tight form fitting jumpsuit of Chiron's ilk, his mouth and nose obscured by his mask, the rest of his face taken up by his goggles and form fitting hood that connected to the suit and surrounded his neck, ears, and hair. The only things about his face I could identify for sure were the few wisps of straight brown locks that showed through the lip of the hood, and his lively sea green colored eyes, which were currently trained on my neck and laced with concern. I scoffed. Someone was a good actor. The man's gaze shifted when he heard the sound; I tensed and blinked up at him, he was looking at me.

"Hey dude," he said. "Sup?"

For a moment I didn't move, just kind of laid there in stunned silence, like a kid who was just caught with his hand in the cookie jar; why I was so surprised at getting caught I would never know but that was the case. Our gazes locked and neither of us moved, neither of us breathed, waiting to see what the other would do. I felt a sad smirk tug at the corner of my lip as the tension built, a small barely noticeable twitch at the corner of my mouth that only those who knew me _, really_  knew me, would be able to notice. It was sad how easy it was to decide. To instantly fall into the mindset that had kept me alive for the past four years. The head of an assassin. It's what I did best.

My eyes steeled and quick as lightning I jumped up, knocking the mans legs out from underneath where he crouched, an already vulnerable position, and straddled his hips, my blade drawn and pressed against his throat.

" _Non ti muovere._  I wouldn't move if I were you," I growled, menacingly in my slightly accented English my wavy black hair flying across my face. I had never fully been able to get rid of the Italian inflection that spoke of my heritage even after all these years and it would still come out on occasion, more often than not. I glared hard at the man underneath me. "This is blade is made from Celestial Bronze, it'll cut through your little suit like paper."

To my surprise the man grinned and started laughing.

I blinked, that had caught me off guard and I loosened my grip slightly, my brow scrunching in confusion. I had expected a struggle or tears or even maybe some begging, not this seemingly jovial reaction. Did the guy have a death wish? If he did I guess I couldn't really judge him considering what  _I_ had just done. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," He grinned still laughing, "Just, dude, I have a gun." I heard it click by my head and I quickly glanced in the direction of the sound, it was some sort of fancy pistol. I huffed and withdrew my blade; even if the bullet wouldn't break skin, I really wasn't in the mood for the head ache it was cause. How the heck had I missed the gun anyway? I was supposed to be better than that. I must be losing my touch.

"So, you gonna get off me now?"

"No," I said with a glare but got off anyway.

The man gave a boyish smirk. "That looks like a yes to me."

"Shut up." My gaze intensified.

"Kid, is that all you know how to do? Glare?" He asked his voice just dripping with barely hidden amusement.

"I'm not a  _kid,_ " I growled, temper flaring. I hated being compared to a child, I've always been small for my age and my face never helped me look any older. My mother thought I'd grow out of it, but I've yet to see that happen. "I'm seventeen."

His eyebrows shot up. "You're kidding, you look like your twelve,  _maybe_  fifteen if you're imaginative." He propped himself up on his arms and looked at me.

"Why would I be joking, the world's ended, what-," I let out a exasperated breath, "Wait, why am I even explaining this to you?"

He grinned. "Dude, because I'm a fucking boss."

"Is that the only word you know? _'Dude'_?"

"Nope." He grinned. Did anything phase this guy?

I stood up. "Okay then  _boss,_ " I said, voice dripping with sarcasm and venom, dusting myself off, pushing my bangs out of my eyes. "Goodbye. Go and run back to Chiron and I'll get on with my life." I started walking away.

I heard the guy scramble after me. "Hey du-, man, wait up! You forgot your mask!"

"Don't need it," I grumbled in reply, not turning around or slowing down. This male really needed to learn when to quit.

He caught up with me and thrust the mask in my face. "Kid, of course you need it, everyone does, I don't want to have to drag away your corpse."

I rested a hand on my temple and turned to face him, glare already in place, barely containing my surprise at realizing just how much taller the man was than me. Now that he wasn't sitting it was obvious and he made my already short height of five-eight seem even shorter than normal. I scowled, everything about this male was pushing my buttons the wrong way. Or maybe it was the right way and I really just wanted to ignore it and say it was in fact the wrong way. "You saw me jump from a four story building and the thing you worry about is whether or not my lungs are going to pop? Mind your own business, do I  _look_  like I'm about to die?"

"Well man, you're hard to please."

"I just don't like talking to people."

"Well take the mask."

"Keep it, I don't need it."

"Take it."

"Go away."

"Take it."

"No."

"You're really anti-social aren't you?" I could feel the smirk in his words.

"You're really annoying."

"Immature."

"Rude."

"Obnoxious."

I shot him another one of my patented glares, my face was going to get stuck like that if I kept talking to him. "Give me the mask and shut up."

The man handed me the mask and I felt the smug metaphorical scent of victory rolling off of him. "The name's Percy by the way. You?"

"Nico," I said stuffing the mask in my pocket, feeling a slightly demented satisfaction at the irritated look he gave me. I don't know why I decided to tell him my real name. It just slipped out before I could think better of it. He had a very disarming personality, you couldn't help but grudgingly like him. "I said  _'give it to me'_ not that I was gonna wear it." I smirked at the boy next to me.

"Fine ki-, Nico, don't expect me to move your corpse off the street."

I thought of my sister and turned away, my mood darkening dramatically. I hadn't even realized it had improved. My emotions were currently out of my control and I didn't like that feeling. I didn't like that Percy had that effect on me. "You won't have to worry about that. I'm not going to die.  _Non posso_."

Percy shot me a questioning glance and I ignored it, deciding instead to pretend he wasn't there, didn't exist. My speed increased, and I vaulted over crumbling walls and holes with ease. It wasn't so bad being small, it gave me certain advantages over the terrain like the fact that I was lithe, fast and stealthy, all of which at one time or another had proved valuable assets in my survival. I glanced behind me; Percy was still following, and keeping up surprisingly well; despite his size he was actually pretty silent on his feet. I guess you'd have to be if you were still around now.

It was something you had to have or learn quickly.

Death came quickly to those who couldn't adapt.

"So, where are you going huh? Back to Reyna?" Percy asked after an indeterminable amount of time.

"No. You'd be dead if I was still with her." It was true. What guy in their right mind wouldn't kill an enemy faction member, especially if said person was being an annoying stalker. It was funny that we didn't ask how the both of us knew what faction we belonged to. Or in my case, used to be with.

He seemed to consider that for a moment. "So...where're you going?"

"I don't know. Anywhere. It doesn't matter." I paused, looking at the wall of debris in front of me. It looked haphazard and unstable, not worth the risk of climbing over, I didn't need to get trapped underground for the rest of my life. That definitely wouldn't be fun. I turned and went down an alley way; after a moment Percy followed.

"So you flew the coop huh? Goin' Solo?" Percy pressed.

"What's it matter?" I ducked under a low hanging rail and climbed over an over turned trash can. The alley smelled strongly of rot and decay; I didn't look to find the source, I had a pretty good idea what I'd find.

"Dude, you're gonna get yourself killed, you know how unsafe that is?"  _Dude._  There was that word again. I began to notice that he used it when he felt he had to emphasize a point, though why he chose  _that_  one I had no idea, in my opinion it just made his point less valid.

"It's not your problem."

"Yes it is."

"Why?" I righted a fallen ladder and climbed up it, vaulting over the wall and landing on the other side with a light thud.

Percy grinned, his voice lilting playfully.. "I can't have a kid like you out all by yourself now can I."

I shot him an irritated glare. "I'm  _not_  a  _kid_." I snapped back.

"Okay, okay, Nico, feisty much huh."

I ignored him.

"Ah come on Nico, don't be like that." I still didn't respond. "Okay, dude, I'm sorry, I won't call ya a kid anymore, 'kay?"

I sighed in exasperation. "I'm not a two year old, I don't need you bribing me into talking."

"Fine but man, if you're going solo why not joi-."

I cut him off. "No."

Percy pouted. "You don't even know what I was going to say."

"Yes I do and the answer is no, I'm not joining your little gang."

"But-"

"No. I'm not going the same way you are."

Percy grinned and coughed. "You...do-don't know that."

"Yes I do, Reyna and Chiron circle each other, they never go into a new area the other isn't in."

"T-true." Percy coughed again.

I sighed. "Percy, if you're getting tired just go away, I don't need you slow- _oh diavolo_."

I turned. My eyes widened. The brunette swayed and I dashed over to his side to steady him. "Percy?!  _Cosa c'è di sbagliato_. W-what's wrong?!" His tan skin had grown a few shades lighter, and his face was covered in sweat. He coughed again and I noticed a faint trail of blood spilling out the corner of his mouth, his eyes slightly bloodshot.

"M-mask." He wheezed out, pointing a clammy finger to the contraption on his face.

Mask? What the hell was he talking about? What was wrong with his mask?

Percy's eyes lolled to the back of his head and he started coughing more profusely, his body going limp and he crumpled to the ground. "Percy!  _Percy!_   _Oh dio! Percy, dovete restare svegli, cosa c'è di sbagliato con la maschera?_ " I shook my head, he couldn't understand Italian, I had to stay calm, think English. "Percy," I tried again, "Wh-what about the mask?"

"B-ba-ttery." He gasped out, before convulsing violently.

Battery? I looked at his face, there was a blinking red light on the side of the mask. My eyes widened. I remembered something about Chiron's masks being solar powered, but they couldn't charge and be used at the same time, so if he had been using the power for his goggles  _and_  his mask...did that mean it had gone out? Was he out of power. That had to be it. Percy gave another jerk, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Blood spewed from his mouth this time, staining the inside of the filter red. My heart pounded, blood roaring in my ears and with shaky fingers I took off his mask, he'd choke to death if I left it on.

Throwing it to the side I propped his head up as he coughed again, more blood spilling out, drizzling on my fingers, staining my jacket, soaking his chin. Images of the death of my parents flashed across my mind. I couldn't save them then. I had been useless. They died in my arms. The same was going to happen to Percy. I couldn't save anyone. I couldn't save anyone. I could- Stop. I had to remain calm. I could save him, I just had to think. I had the answer.

I reached in my pocket and felt a familiar plastic touch my fingers. I inhaled sharply, of course, my mask. That's what I'd give him. Quickly I took mine out and clumsily strapped it to his face. It was bulkier but it would do, there was no time to be picky right now, he needed clean air. Flipping it on. I bit my lip and waited, hoping against hope that I hadn't taken too long, that he was still alive.

For a moment the boy remained still, then I heard him take a haggard breath and I let out a sigh of relief. At least he was breathing...but he still looked pale. Percy needed a doctor, there was nothing more I could do for him. The damage done to his lungs and internal organs was too severe to ignore. I bit my lip and felt the coppery taste of blood fill my tongue. I could take him back to Reyna's camp, get reprimanded, probably put on some sort of ridiculous duty if she was in a good mood, or she could kill me and Percy. Well...try.

I shook my head, okay so that wasn't an option, besides her infirmary wasn't very sophisticated and I doubted she'd have the medicines or technology needed to save him, not that she'd even likely want to spare it. That left Chiron and Percy's camp. Hopefully they weren't the shoot first ask questions later kind like Reyna.

"Percy," I whispered urgently, the boys breathing had evened out at least even if it was still slightly raspy, most likely his lungs had holes and fluid stuck in them now. "Percy," I tried. The boy opened his eyes slowly, not quite focusing on me, but seeming to know my presence was there. "You need a doctor, how do I get to your camp?"

The sickly teen beamed at me, his complexion paling considerably with the small action and I felt bad for asking him to do anything. "So...I...got...you-," He coughed and wheezed slightly before continuing, "...to...come...to camp...with me...huh?"

I fought the need to roll my eyes. Was that really what the most important thing to him? That I wouldn't be solo anymore? What was to stop me from just leaving once I knew he was okay? He needed to get his priorities straight. "You got me, now how do I get there?" I was really starting to get annoyed, I didn't like repeating myself, but what could I do? Percy was barely coherent as it was.

Percy's eyes had closed and for a moment I thought he'd gone to sleep but then he opened his mouth and said, "B-battery...needs...to ch-charge...com-link...map..." He stopped and licked his lips, blood smearing on his tongue and he wheezed dangerously. That was enough talking for him.

"Okay, good, now shut up." I think I got the gist of his message. I needed to wait for his battery to recharge, which meant I needed sunlight, and then I could use the other features on his suit, call for help, and figure out where his camp was. That wasn't so bad, I had a plan, Percy was stable at the moment, and there were no immediate threats to our survival, everything was okay. I glanced up at the sky, and wiped the blood from my lip; I needed to move us to another spot, the sky was already gray and the way the shadows moved in this alley space between crumbling buildings just wasn't good enough.

I glanced at the boy beside me; could I lift him? He was tall, but he wasn't especially bulky, it would probably be awkward and I might need to take breaks but it should be do-able. Checking to make sure Percy was still asleep, I propped the boy up and positioned him on my back, using my knees for support before hoisting him up. Immediately I stumbled, his weight distributed unevenly over my small from, his limbs hanging lankly and limply by my side. Steadying myself against a dirty brick wall, I took a moment to get used to the new weight on my shoulders, and placed his dirty mask in my hand, reaching painfully to the ground and picking it up, not an easy thing to do with a person hanging off of you like a monkey.

Huffing, I blew my bangs out of my eyes and mask in hand, I began to trek away. Back in the direction I had come. Away from Reyna's camp, and to an all knew territory. One that I didn't know what to expect from, and one that I hoped I wouldn't get attached to.

With my mind so pre-occupied, I didn't wonder about the cut on my lip.

Didn't worry about how it could have happened.

My body was supposed to be invulnerable.

I just jumped off a four story building.

It wasn't supposed to be.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Btw, if anyone thinks that Nico's reaction to the dying Percy was a tad extreme, it really wasn't. Nico's not evil, and his cold demeanor is just to keep people from getting close to him. He already feels guilty about having killed people to surive in the past so when someone, even a stranger like Percy, who wasnt trying to hurt him falls, he'll try to help. He's just sick of all the death. So it's a bit of a trigger for him. And let's face it, he's been emotionally and mentally scarred these past 3 years, he's not the most stable kid in the bunch (more on that later)
> 
> ~~Italian Translation~~
> 
> Oh Bianca, mia sorella. Padre, mi dispiace non ho potuto proteggerla. Bianca, mi dispiace: Oh Bianca, my sister. Father I'm sorry I couldn't protect her. Bianca I'm sorry.
> 
> Non ti muovere: Don't Move
> 
> Non posso: I can't
> 
> oh diavolo: Oh hell
> 
> Cosa c'è di sbagliato: What's wrong?
> 
> Oh dio! Percy, dovete restare svegli, cosa c'è di sbagliato con la maschera?: Oh god! Percy, you have to stay awake, what's wrong with the mask?
> 
> Okay! I think that's all the phrases used for now...if I missed one lemmee know.
> 
> Also in case you're wondering, Nico uses Italian when he's flustered, or upset, or really doesnt want to talk to anyone, I think it fits and makes sense since at least in this fic his native tongue is Italian.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy! I'll be posting the 1st chapter as well just cause you don't meet our lovely heroes until that one :3 
> 
> And BETROTHED PT 4 UPDATE (so you know i'm not just sitting on my rump doin nothing)
> 
>  
> 
> -Betrothed-  
> Sins of Forgotten Love
> 
> "That'll be all for today, Nico," Hazel said as she lazily flicked a stray curl from her face -- her small, innocent, childish form aggravatingly deceiving -- that not yet mature voice hiding more knowledge than a girl her age truly had any right to have.  
> Nico sighed and ran a hand through his raven hair, propping himself up on an elbow before raising himself off the ground -- bits of dirt clinging to his clothes -- sweat smearing across his face and stinging his eyes. He winced slightly as he rolled his shoulders and neck, a dull ache radiating in the space between them -- a reminder of just how hard Frank could hit – yet again proving that his muscles were for more than just show.  
> Nico made a face, lips pursing in a thin line, and glared up at the bear of a man who'd done this to him; it showed just how long Nico'd been here that Frank only smiled and patted him roughly on the back. He could still remember when they'd first met, when Frank was still wary of him despite everything that Hazel said and Nico did to prove otherwise; hovering ominously in the corner, glaring threateningly in his direction.  
> Nico shook his head, the sun now high in the sky after what felt like only mere minutes of training, even though he knew it had to have been the equivalent to at least a couple hours. Time moved differently here, it flowed like a video on fast forward, or a scratched record, skipping illogically. It wasn’t linear and continual – rather it moved in an almost seamless randomness that left the mortal occupant more than a little disorientated.  
> Six months. That's what Hazel had told him when he'd asked her earlier that morning. That's how long he'd been stuck in this purgatory, and while he wasn't exactly a prisoner -- he couldn't really say he was free either. Hazel and Frank never said as much, or ever treated him with less than proper courtesy, but he couldn't help but wonder when he'd be allowed to leave.  
> How much more could there possibly be to learn? They'd gone through so much already and Nico was beginning to feel just slightly claustrophobic, like the air around him was closing in -- like every day the world he currently lived in got a little smaller -- a little less welcoming. Though, he supposed that wasn't what the real issue was.  
> No, the only reason he couldn't take it, couldn't stand the long nights – why he grew restless the longer he remained was all because of one thing – all he really wanted was to see Percy again. Just a peek, just a glance, just a second in his old world was all he needed to refresh himself. To just get some small measly indication of how Percy was faring to set his heart at ease.  
> He had so many questions he wanted answered, so many worries weighing upon his heart that sometimes it just made him sick to think about. He tried to push those thoughts down, tired to bury them deep, but even still sometimes they’d resurface, slipping through the cracks of his armor – the armor that was slowing dragging him down – drowning him in his own insanity.  
> Did Percy hear what befell his family? Had news reached Atlantis? Did Percy think he was dead? Was he mourning?  
> Was he moving on?
> 
> THE NEW BEGINNING OF PT4 HOPE YOU LIKE!!
> 
> NOW ONTO CHAP 1 OF THIS BABY!!! AND FOR THOSE WHO HAVENT READ BETROTHED AND THAT STRUCK YOUR FANCY GO CHECK IT OUT PLZ!!! MOTIVATION IS KEY!!! Also I've recently started planning out a couple original stroies as well soooo it's likely my updates may get even more spaced out once I start writing those (granted this one has ALOT like 150+ single spaced pages) in it soooo it'll be awhile b4 i really have to start writing it again. ANYWAY REVIEW PLZ!! KUDOS!!!! SUBSCRIBE!! BOOKMARK!!! THE LOVE MEANS ALOT!


End file.
